Right its time for my look at the latest from the men's matches at Wimbledon as I will cover the 4th round matches and the quarter finals and there is alot to cover so let's crack on with it....
4th ROUND MATCHES
Right so the first match up was a much anticipated match up between Andy Murray and Nick Kyrgios as this match had all the hallmarks of a bit of a classic and Nick prior to the match made some arrogant claims that he would beat Andy and end his Wimbledon dream. However it turned out to be quite the opposite as despite a strong start from Nick in the first set, once Andy broke to win the first set 7-5, Nick's head went down and he was unable to recover his belief and he soon went two sets to love down. And in the 3rd, Andy put the final nail in Nick's coffin as he broke him again and he went on to seal the win with a surprisingly easy 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 win.
Well this match promised to be a cracker but unfortunately again it just didn't deliver and what was most disappointing had to be Nick's attitude as he seemed to just give up after the first set. This also raised alot of crticism after the match as to Nick's level of commitment to the sport as it was said he spent the morning of the match playing video games instead of practising and then he went to watch Lleyton Hewitt's doubles match in the afternoon! This is hardly the stuff that champions are made of and it has to be said that if Nick wants to win slams in the future then he really has to start knuckling down and changed his attitude as right now he is about as far away from winning a major as he is ever likely to be. Anyway regardless of this no doubt Nick will be back again on tour soon enough and may in time develop into a more mature player (a bit of a lecture there!).
Next up was the match between Roger Federer and Steve Johnson, the American who made a surprise run into the 2nd week. However Johnson was simply no match for Roger as the Swiss player made short work of him and quickly went two sets to love up and despite taking a break in the 3rd set, Johnson was unable to consolidate it and he suffered a straight set loss to Rog who won in 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.
After this we had Milos Raonic, who has been coached under the guidance of one of the tennis greats, John McEnroe for the grass court seasosn and in the 4th round he faced David Goffin of Belgium. However it was Goffin that made the stronger start as he stunned Raonic for the first two sets with his impressive play that saw the Belgian take a two sets to love lead. In the 3rd set however, Raonic mounted his fightback and he won the 3rd set, followed by 4th and in 5th set he managed to dig out the win to seal his quarter final place with a 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 4-6 victory. This was the first time that Raonic had come from two sets to love down so it showed that under Johnny Mac that his mental game is improving so this should make him dangerous for the rest of the tournament.
As for the other 4th round matches, Tomas Berdych was made to work very hard for his 4th round win as he took on his fellow Czeck, the big Jiri Vesely in a match that had to be played over two days and play was suspended due to darkness with resuming the next day at two sets all. However Berdych went on to show his class and experience as it tolled on the younger Vesely who was broken in the 5th set and Berdych went on to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.
Lucas Pouille, the 32nd seed has made a surprisingly good run so far and he was up against Bernard Tomic in their match which eventually saw the Frenchman, Pouille win out an epic battle in five sets with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 10-8. Sam Querrey also continued his good form after beating the defending champion, Novak Djokovic in the 3rd round by beating Nicholas Mahut in straight sets to reach his maiden slam quarter final with a 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 win. As for the last two 4th round matches well they ended unfortunately in retirement as Kei Nishikori and Richard Gasquet both had to retire due to injury in their matches that saw Marin Cilic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga make it through to the last eight.
QUARTER FINAL MATCHES
Now for the quarter final matches, well let's start with easier ones first!
OK so to start there was first up Tomas Berdych who took on Lucas Pouille who was no match for Berdych who outclassed the young 22 year old and he reached the semi finals of Wimbledon for the second time with an easy 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. After this we had Milos Raonic take on Sam Querrey for a place in the last four and although it was a more competitive affair than the first one, Raonic showed his skill and class to beat Querrey who inexperienced in slams at this stage so the Canadian won in four sets 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Right now for the other two men's quarter final matches.....
So to start there was the clash between Roger Federer and Marin Cilic both of whom are major champions (17 to Roger, 1 US Open title to Cilic) and this had the potential to be a real barn burner and by heck did it live up to expectations.
The match started off with Cilic on fire as he rained serve after serve with incredible accuracy as he kept effortlessly finding his spots to win each service game and he went on to claim the first set on a tibreak. Atfer this Cilic managed to break Roger again in the 2nd set and it wasn't long before he grabbed the two set lead and this saw Rog on the verge of exiting the tournament. However the fightback for Roger was on in the 3rd set as he broke Cilic to go 5-3 up and he nabbed the 3rd set to keep his title bid alive. In the 4th set, Cilic regrouped as he served very well and took play into a tiebreak where he had two match point chances against Roger who bravely snuffed them out with great serves and went on to break Cilic to level the match at two sets apiece. And in the 5th set, Roger finally moved ahead in the match as he broke the big Croatian and served it out with an ace to reach his 10th Wimbledon semi final and completed a stunning comeback from two sets down with a 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 win.
Well if this match doesn't prove Roger is ready and determined to win the title then I don't what will as he really had to dig deep to win this match and it was superb match from start to finish that had plenty of drama. Cilic himself will be deeply disappointed no doubt with how it turned out as he had several chances against Roger to close it out but in the end he just couldn't take them. But regardless of that Cilic played exceptionally well and a big part in what was a classic match.
Next up was another big clash between Andy Murray and the talented and dangerous Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who has a fine pedigree for playing on grass courts. Andy had taken on Jo twice before at Wimbledon in 2010 and 2012 and both matches went to four sets but Andy prevailed in both. However this match was something of a different animal and it started off with an incredibly close first set that went to a tiebreak with Jo having several set point chances which were snuffed out by Andy who went on to grab an epic 12-10 breaker and the first set. In the 2nd set Jo went off the boil totally as he appeared to surrender his game just like Nick Kyrgios did in the previous round as Andy eased to a two sets to love lead with a double break.
However Jo was far from done as he started a strong fightback that saw him finally break Andy's serve and for the first time in the tournament, Andy lost a set and play was pushed into a 4th set. And despite nabbing a couple of breaks from the Frenchman, Andy came up against some more stern resistance from Jo who broke back and went on to break Andy to serve out the set and level match at two sets all. Andy now in the decider faced the preacrious position of an upset as Jo looked to be on the charge but Andy somehow managed to dig deep and fight his way through and broke Jo's serve twice to finally seal the match and his place in the semi finals with an incredible 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 win.
Well there isn't much doubt this and Roger's match were the two best matches of the tournament so far as both were incredible five set battles that saw the centre court crowd get their money's worth. And this match certainly provided the missing drama that we usually see in Andy Murrray's Wimbledon campaigns. This match also brought to mind Jo's victory over Roger Federer at Wimbledon five years ago at the same stage in the quarter finals as Jo was able to beat Roger from two sets to love down and it looked very likely it could happen again to Andy. However thankfully this proved not to be the case as Andy showed his champion qualities in the end to fight his way through as he has done so time and time again.
SEMI FINAL PREDICTIONS
Soooooo this brings me onto the men's semi final predictions....
And to kick off there is the match between Roger Federer and Milos Raonic which should be a very close encounter this time around given Raonic has much improved his game since their last meeting at SW19 two years ago when Roger convincingly beat Milos in straight sets. And the significant factor in this match for Raonic is of course the work he has been doing with John McEnroe who has helped to improve his game on the grass courts this season.
However it has to be asked: will this be enough for Raonic to cause an upset here??? Well possibly as Raonic is a very strong player who is growing in belief and his own abilities and Raonic already holds two wins over Roger on the ATP tour that he can draw from here. The only problem of course is that Raonic will be up against the greatest player to have played the game who is improving with every match and has shown his incredible fighting spirit in his last match with Marin Cilic. And to get past that guy, Milos will need to play the match of his life but he might just be capable of doing it.
But as for my final prediction well I really have to say that Roger will come out on top of this one but I think it will be very close this time round and I think Raonic will definitely nab a set or even two, so I think I will go with Roger winning in four very tight sets.
As for the other semi final which will be between Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych....well this one is a bit tricky to predict given that Andy has just played a gruelling five set near four hour epic match and Berdych has spent half that time on court in his quarter final match. So in this case, Berdych will already be the fresher of the two although he has already been pushed hard in his match with Jiri Vesely so maybe it will all even itself out on how they are both feeling physically at this point. And given Andy has only expended alot of energy in one match and he has been able to win his first four matches in straight sets this hopefully will hold him in good stead going into this one.
However Berdych has been a finalist at Wimbledon already so he knows how to do it and on his day he can beat just about anyone and his head to head against Andy remains pretty close as Andy leads it 8-6. But the thing to remember here is that Andy has owned Berdych in their last four matches and has managed to find a way past the Czeck player. Not only that, Berdych lacks the mental edge that Andy has when it comes to the big matches and given Andy's more superior big match experience in reaching grand slams finals (10 to Berdych's 1!) he has to be the favourite here.
So my prediction for this match will be Andy coming through in four sets to reach his 3rd Wimbledon final to set up the potentially inevitable clash between Andy and Roger. Will it happen?? Well we will soon find out!
Right so that's it for now and I will be back soon with the results of the semi finals matches for the ladies and men.
Till the next post its bye for now!
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